Advice for 2 week road trip

[Queeny]

Hi all,
First of all, GREAT SITE!!!!, confused by the options US has to offer - I found some wonderful tips!

We are planning a 2 week road trip in November and need some help with choosing a destination.
We narrowed it down to Southeast to California+Nevada or Southeast to Florida+GA+TN+NC.
We are looking forward to experiencing US great outdoors - Nature and camping, and looking to throw in some of the more urban sites.

What would you suggest to first time road trip travellers?

Dazed and confused

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums, pleased you like them !

Every corner of the US has something to offer someone, and in many different ways, so at this point I would carry on researching until you find something that "hits the spot" and then research some more !

I know that doesn't seem of much use to you right now, but there are thousands of options and possibilities, just within the two choices you made above. The beauty of the Roadtrip is having the freedom to go where you want, when you want and to go at a pace you are comfortable with.

You will need to consider budget, [one way rentals can have a considerable surcharge] weather, [at high elevation camping could be extreme in November] and how long you wish to spend behind the wheel of a car. A trip that takes you across the width of the country will normally take 6 day's [+1/-1] of full driving, depending on actual start and finish points.

Don't forget to look in the Roadtrip planning/routes pages in the tool bar above for more ideas and when you have kinda figured out what your start and finish points are and have a couple of dots on the map I am sure we can help fill in the blanks.

Enjoy the planning !

[Queeny]

Hi,
Thanks for the quick reply :)
and thanks for the advice,
I'll write again after I figured out the route

[Queeny]

Dear all,
I have written before - but now finally made a decision - we're going west in 2 weeks
We decided to combine urban and nature scenery as follows -
1. San Francisco, CA - 3 days
2. Wine country - 3 days
3. Yosemite N.P+ Sequoia N.P - 3 days
4. Death Valley -1 day
5. Las Vegas, NV - 4 days
The number of days suggested include "on-the-road time" because I don't really know how long it would take to get from place to place
Could you help me with the driving time part? and what are the best roads to take (looking for easy, fun, nature paths )
Thanks

[AZBuck]

The amount of time that you have allocated for your drives is overly generous, leaving lots of time for either side trips or hanging out at your destinations. For example, San Francisco to 'wine country' is only a 50 mile, or 1 hour, drive. Similarly, Death Valley to Las Vegas is only about 150 miles or 3-4 hours. The routes should be obvious from any good map (You WILL get a good paper map, won't you?) The one segment that you may have to devote some thought, time and effort to will be from Yosemite to Death Valley. November is about the time each year when the 'short' route through Tioga Pass (CA-120) over the Sierra Nevada gets snowed in for the winter. You should not count on being able to use it. If it is open, by all means take advantage of it. It is a gorgeous road through some very scenic mountains. On the eastern side of the mountains you would then use US-395 south to Lone Pine and CA-135/CA-190 into Death Valley. If the pass is closed, you will; need to exit Yosemite Park to the southwest on CA-140 to CA-49/CA-41/CA-99 and Bakersfield where you'd take CA-58/CA-14 around the southern end of the mountains to US-395 north and CA-190 into Death Valley.

AZBuck

[Southwest Dave]

As you are visiting Sequoia NP within the 3 day's allotted for Yosemite it would probably be wise to continue South around the Southern end of the Sierra's past Lake Isabella and into Death valley. Tioga pass is a big part of the Yosemite experience, and if open you might want to drive it [recommended], or at least to Tuolumne Meadows. Hopefully Glacier point Rd will also be open, at the top the view is amazing !

To travel from the Napa area to Yosemite, I would recommend taking the "travel day" from the 3rd day in Wine country so that you are in Yosemite that evening to maximise your time between there and Death valley.

If you are keeping your car while in Vegas you might want to consider these suggestions for days out.

[Queeny]

Great advice,
Thanks you, exactly the information I was missing :)
Can I count on finding lodging around the parks area when there? - or should i reserve rooms in advance?

[Midwest Michael]

November is the off-season pretty much everywhere, so if you don't make reservations you shouldn't have any problem finding a room somewhere. If you've got a specific place you want to stay - with inside the Yosemite Valley being one area I'd think about prebooking - then I'd go ahead and make the reservation. However, in Yosemite for example, the worst case is that you'd have to stay in one of the villages outside the park like Oakhurst or Mariposa that have plenty of lodging options.